Partnerships and Affiliates

The fastest way to reach new people is often through someone who already has their trust. Partnerships let you borrow audiences, share work and combine strengths. Done well, everyone wins: your partner earns or gains goodwill, their audience discovers something useful, and you grow. Done badly, they burn trust on all sides. This page shows you how to do it well.

Four ways to partner

Find the right partners

The best partner serves the same audience with a different, complementary offer. A copywriting coach and a web designer. A nutrition coach (properly qualified) and a strength coach. A productivity newsletter and a note-taking course.

• Their audience overlaps with yours, but they do not sell the same thing.
• Their values and marketing style match yours. Their reputation becomes part of yours.
• You have seen their work and would recommend it even without a commission.
• They are responsive, reliable and easy to work with.
• Size matters less than fit. A small, engaged audience can be a great match.

Pitch a partnership

1. Build the relationship first. Share their work, reply thoughtfully, buy their product, invite them onto your podcast. Give before you ask.
2. Make it about their audience. Explain specifically how your offer or content would help the people they serve.
3. Make it easy. Offer to do the heavy lifting: draft emails, teach the workshop, handle the tech.
4. Be clear about terms. Commission, dates, what you need from them and what they get.
5. Follow through and report back. Share results honestly and thank them publicly.

Run a JV launch

A JV launch follows the same four phases as any launch in the Launch Playbook, with extra coordination:

Run your own affiliate program

Many course and membership platforms include affiliate tools, and dedicated affiliate software exists too. Check current features and pricing, as they change.

1. Decide who can join. Customers only, invited partners, or an application. Approving affiliates helps protect your brand.
2. Set your terms. Commission rate, cookie window, payout schedule, and how refunds affect commissions (usually a holding period until the refund window passes).
3. Write clear rules. No spam, no bidding on your brand name in ads, no misleading claims, no income promises, and required disclosure.
4. Create a resource kit. Product description, approved claims, images, sample emails and FAQs.
5. Onboard and support. Send a welcome email, share updates, and highlight partners who do it well.
6. Monitor. Review how affiliates promote you. Remove anyone who misleads people.

Partner agreement checklist

• Commission rate and what counts as a sale
• Payment timing and method
• Refund and chargeback handling
• Approved and forbidden marketing methods
• Disclosure requirements
• Use of names, logos and content
• Email list and data ownership (each side keeps its own subscribers; never share lists without consent)
• How either side can end the agreement

For significant deals, have a qualified attorney review the agreement.

Disclosure is not optional

If someone earns a commission or receives something of value for recommending a product, their audience deserves to know. In the United States, the FTC expects clear and conspicuous disclosure of material connections, and other countries have similar rules.

Bundles and cross-promotions

Bundles work when every product is genuinely useful to the same buyer and the bundle has a real end date. Keep the list of included products honest, describe the value plainly, and do not inflate “total value” figures with prices nobody actually pays.

Cross-promotions are the easiest place to start: a newsletter swap, a guest post, a shared workshop, or recommending each other’s lead magnets. Track results so you know which partnerships to repeat.

Be a great partner yourself

Partnerships run both ways. When you recommend someone else, only promote products you have used or carefully reviewed, disclose every commission, and tell your audience who the product is not for. Your recommendations are a form of trust you are lending out, so lend it carefully. Partners who see you treat your audience well are more likely to want to work with you again.

Track every partner link

Use UTM parameters so you know which partner, email or post sent each visitor. Build your links here:

AI prompts for partnerships

My audience is [audience] and I sell [offer]. Suggest 10 types of complementary creators or businesses who serve the same audience with a different offer. For each, suggest one partnership idea that would help both audiences.

Draft a partnership pitch to [name], who runs [their business]. I would like to [JV / co-host workshop / newsletter swap]. Explain how it helps their audience, what I will handle, and the proposed terms: [terms]. Warm, under 200 words.

Create an affiliate swipe file for [product]: 3 email drafts, 5 social posts and a short product description. Include a clear affiliate disclosure line in each, avoid income claims, and leave [brackets] for the affiliate's personal story.

Keep going

Partnerships work best on top of a solid audience and funnel. See Audience Building, Evergreen Funnels and the Social, SEO and Partnerships lesson. Want to meet potential partners? Explore the Business in a Box Network.